Characters / Confessions of a D-List Supervillain

Main Characters

Cal Stringle a.k.a. Mechani-CAL a.k.a Mana-CALS a.k.a Megasuit

• Antihero: Bounces between this and Antivillain throughout the series.
• Archenemy: Ultraweapon serves as this for Cal in books 1 and 2. Cal finally kills him at the climax of Confessions.
  • The Biloxi Bugler was his most frequent opponent beforehand.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: He states in-universe he'd spend 3 hours coding a robot to do a job which would take fifteen minutes.
• Combat Pragmatist: He states outright that there's no such thing as a fair fight in the real world - someone always has the advantage, and your job is to make sure it's you.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Cal is either on the receiving end of these or dishing them out. He very rarely fights an opponent on even terms.
• Elaborate Underground Base: He and Cal have a small one.
• Evil Counterpart: Cal envisioned himself as this for Ultraweapon but was actually this for the Biloxi Bugler for much of his career.
• Gadgeteer Genius: What makes him so effective as an antihero.
• Guile Hero: Is the only reason he's still alive.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: A magic necklace that grants superpowers to normal people and weakens the abilities of metahumans allows him to understand all languages written or spoken. He finds it a useless ability at first, but comes around to liking it when he discovers that the trait works on ancient scrolls of ferocious dinosaur magic.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: What Cal was considered by most of the superhero community until his drunken murder spree actually done by The Merchant of Death. Even then, he was still considered to be a Harmless Villain and a D-lister (hence the title).
• The Lost Lenore: Vicky serves this role for him.
• Magic Knight: He becomes one of these after devoting himself to studying sorcery. Albeit, he's only dangerous because he can turn his minute magical potential into something useful with his scientific knowledge.
• Odd Friendship: ALL of Cal's friendships are odd.
• Official Couple: With Aphrodite.
• Powered Armour: The heart of his powers.
• Power Palms: His favorite method of attack.
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: He remains cynical and amoral after his Heel–Face Turn in Confessions, being far more willing than the other heroes to do morally ambiguous things for the greater good.
• Reformed, but Rejected: The reaction of the heroes to Cal after he saves the world. They very begrudgingly tolerate his presence.
• Revenge Before Reason: Has a DownplayedTrope example of such where he does a number of stupid things because of revenge.
• Rocket Boots: Another part of his costume.
• Science Hero: Later a Magic-Science Hero.
• Thinking Up Portals: The secret behind his "Megasuit." It's technically a Stone Wall, but it uses magic portals located in its weapons and power cells to siphon energy and high-yield ammunition from his base to give the illusion of an unstoppable, impossible mechanical juggernaut.
• Took a Level in Badass: From the perspective of the Olympians after the events of the Bug takeover. He goes from being considered a Harmless Villain to being someone they don't want to take on alone. He takes another level in badass when he creates the Megasuit.
• Villains Do The Dirty Work: He kills two enormous jerkbag 'heroes' who needed killing.
• Villain Protagonist: In Origins of a D-List Supervillain. He's more an anti-hero in the other books.

Stacy Mitchell a.k.a Aphrodite

• Amnesiac Dissonance: Was a great deal more unpleasant after losing her memory, which is what she was like before meeting Cal.
• The Atoner: By proxy. While theoretically all the Olympians count towards this (the Greek gods weren't what you would call heroes by today's standards), Stacy was was specifically asked by Aphrodite when the latter granted her her powers to redeem the name after all the shitty things she's infamous for doing in Greek Mythology.
• Casual Kink: Aphrodite and Cal's sex life is implied to be quite exotic.
• Character Development: Goes from being a Rich Bitch to a nice woman.
• The Empath: Her primary power.
• The Heart: Aphrodite's role in the Olympians. She's not happy about it.
• Nice Girl: Who role to Cal Stringle. It turns out she wasn't always this way.
• Official Couple: With Cal.
• Physical God: Is the embodiment of Aphrodite's power on Earth.
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Aphrodite can sense people's emotions and needs plus shoot psychic powers of love. She's also superstrong but not as strong as the more heavy-hitters of the Olympians.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: Is wildly considered this by the populace at large.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Aphrodite pulls this on Cal. She says that Cal does it to her as well.

Wendy La Guardia a.k.a Whirl-Wendy

• The Ace: What she is considered by much of the world.
• Action Mom: Becomes this after Confessions.
• Antihero: A lighter shade than Cal Stringle but clearly harder-edged than her public persona would suggest.
• Archnemesis Dad: A Downplayed Trope example. Her father is just an Obstructive Bureaucrat but is turning the government against his daughter.
• Blow You Away: Wendy's powers.
• Broken Ace: What the government is trying to portray her as to the public.
• Elemental Powers: Wind-based powers.
• Joisey: Whirl-Wendy has a pronounced New Jersey accent, to the point the audio book version sounds like a longshoreman.
• Retcon: Whirl-Wendy's personality was shifted from Confessions to Secrets with Cal saying he removed Wendy's saltier personality traits.
• Mama Bear: Goes ballistic when a Secret Service agent tries to take away her child.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Wendy has no interest in playing by the government's rules when she can do it her way.

New Renegades

Andy Droid

• Back from the Dead: More believable than most examples since he is a robot.
• Battle Butler: Is every bit as important to operating the Megasuit as Cal.
• Clone Angst: Has this reaction when he comes back from the dead only to find out his replacement was created from a backup of his memory.
• Naked People Are Funny: Has this reaction to both porn as well as Cal's sex life.
• Robot Maid: Basically serves as Cal Stringle's robot butler since he has nothing better to do while Cal puts off turning his body back from stone.
• Servile Snarker: A very underplayed example but it seems clear he's faking Literal-Minded-ness to get away with this.
• Undying Loyalty: Develops this to Cal Stringel after he's the only person to not think him replaceable.

Hillbilly Bobby

• Affably Evil: Is barely evil at all, mostly just being a petty crook with ambitions no greater than having a cool base filled with cold beer.
• The Brute: His role in the New Renegades.
• Comically Missing the Point: A black humor and Double Standard one, his only reaction to discovering Cal and Whirl-Wendy were forced to have sex via mind-control is basically, "So, you nailed her? Good for you." He gets better about it after Cal explains it would have turned into a snuff film.
• Dating Catwoman: Played With in Thugs, Lies,and Spies. While undercover as the Highwayman he hits it off with Hermes, and it's later revealed in Rise that she's got the hots for him, though she doesn't know that the Highwayman is Bobby.
• Deep South: He's from somewhere in Mississipi.
• Elaborate Underground Base: He and Cal have a small one.
• Expy: Is the D-List supervillain equivalent of the Wrecker, only a redneck version of him.
• Heel–Face Turn: Played with as Bobby clearly doesn't care about good or evil but just is enjoying hanging out with his superhero friends.
• Kissing Cousins: Subverted. When almost forced to mate with his similarly powered cousin by Tyrannosorcerer Rex, his reaction is, "That's nasty!"
• Punch-Clock Villain: Is the closest to a "normal" crook in the setting. He doesn't carry any notable grudges like the Evil Overlord or General Grievous and is comparatively sane, unlike EM Pulsive. He's a criminal because he's just wants money and finds it easier to get it through crime than with an honest living.
• Shipper on Deck: Was this for Whirl-Wendy and Cal.
• Simple-Minded Wisdom: Could be Dumbass Has a Point but it seems Hillbilly Bobby is uneducated rather than stupid. He also displays many such moments where he points out flaws in Cal's plans due to the latter's tendency to overplan things.

Imaginary Larry a.k.a Extraordinary Larry

• Bed Trick: Honey Pot agents took advantage of his madness to get pregnant by him by pretending to be his girlfriend. Larry is horrified to know he has five children being used as super-soldiers somewhere.
• Heel–Face Turn: Though he was genuinely insane, not evil.
• Nice Guy: What his personality is like once he's able to think clearly.
• Papa Wolf: Will do almost anything to get his kids back.
• Power Incontinence: What else would you call twenty years of living in an energy construct version of high-school?
• Psychic Powers: Is the most powerful psychic in the setting. So much so that his powers being halved barely impact him at all.
• Self-Made Orphan: Accidentally killed his mom, which contributed to his twenty-years of madness.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Imaginary Larry had this problem for twenty-years.

Major Heroes

Lazarus Patterson a.k.a Ultraweapon

• Archenemy: To General Devious, the Evil Overlord, and Cal Stringle. He used to think Cal wasn't worth his time but thought otherwise when Aphrodite chose Cal over him.
• Arms Dealer: How he made his billions.
• Big Bad: His role in both Confessions as well as Origins of a D-List Supervillain. He even plays much of one in Secrets.
• Expy: He's basically an evil Tony Stark.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Sells arms to anyone who can afford them, steals the work of other individuals, harasses anyone who leaves his service, and that's just the legal stuff he does.
• Evil Counterpart: Is Cal Stringle with billions and fame and respect. So, not that much like him at all.
• Evil Is Petty: Shows up to meetings he avoided for a decade just to troll Cal.
• Gadgeteer Genius: One of the best. Subverted when it's made clear that Patterson made some impressive discoveries but it's his engineering team that makes most of what he's now famous for.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Patterson has many toadies, friends, and yes-men as well as die-hard defenders. Quite a few of these stick by him after his death despite the fact all appearances imply he's a complete tool with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
• Karma Houdini: Subverted. He played a role in the deaths of 500,000,000 people and gets credit for saving the world from the Bugs when it was Cal's doing, but eventually pays the price when he ends up being killed by Cal after officially pulling a Face–Heel Turn (as opposed to just being a giant asshole).
• Killed Off for Real: Cal finishes him off in Confessions but remains a Posthumous Character throughout the next three books.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His attack on the Evil Overlord's base releases the Bugs. He did it solely to impress Stacy.
• Powered Armour: The heart of his powers.
• Power Palms: His favorite method of attack.
• Really Gets Around: Has a playboy persona which, it turns out, is actually this.
• Rocket Boots: Another part of his costume.
• Science Hero: Is one with Cal Stringle.
• Shame If Something Happened: His conversations with Cal are full of these moments.
• Troll: Taunts Cal Stringle a great deal after memory-wiping Aphrodite and trying to kill him.
• Villain Ball: Gets one of these and an Idiot Ball when he randomly makes a highly-illegal giant atomic robot which destroys all of his credibility at once.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Anyone who spends the slightest amount of time with him seems to realize he's a complete tool. Played With as he has his defenders even after his Moral Event Horizon.

Minor Heroes

The Biloxi Bugler

• The Cape: Embodies this than the vast majority of superheroes.
• Good Counterpart: To Cal, being he's a D-List Superhero who is arguably more important than anyone imagines.
• The Paragon: Is probably the nicest, most decent superhero in the setting.
• Southern-Fried Genius: Invented a sonic bugle capable of creating physical blasts of energy.

She-Dozer

• Amazonian Beauty: Images of her paint like a Caucasian blonde She-Hulk.
• Deep South: Along with Hillbilly Bobby.
• Kissing Cousins: Subverted. Tyrannosorcerer Rex was planning on having her mate with Bobby, who it turns out is her cousin. Thankfully, he was defeated before that could happen.

Major Villains

General Devious

• Affably Evil: One of the nicer villains we've met.
• Amplifier Artifact: Her hover throne enhances her already formidable psychic abilities.
• Archenemy: Was one of Ultraweapon's three archenemies.
• Big Bad: Is one of the Big Bads of the setting along with the Evil Overlord.
• Consummate Liar: She's famous for it, to the point that Cal wonders if she's the only person that could beat the Overlord's Living Lie Detector powers.
• Expy: Has elements of both Charles Xavier and a Distaff Counterpart of Lex Luthor.
• Freudian Excuse: Has a very good reason to hate Ultraweapon.
• Genius Cripple: As a result of the event that gave her her powers, she lost the ability to use her legs and is confined to a wheelchair / hover throne.
• Psychic Powers: One of the most powerful telepaths in the setting.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Had this relationship to Ultraweapon as well as the Evil Overlord.
• Sophisticated as Hell: Causally slips to talking about her breasts despite the fact she's a super-genius.

The Evil Overlord

• Archenemy: Was Ultraweapon's archenemy for years, only to lose him to Megasuit.
• Bad Boss: Blows up his secret base with many of his personnel still in it. Including Vicky.
• Big Bad: Is unquestionably the most evil and powerful man.
• Classic Villain: Is implied to be driven by envy and ambition rather than anything else. Even his rivalry with Ultraweapon seems to be that he's just the chief obstacle in his plans.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: He's an evil overlord.
• Evil Overlord: See his name. He does it well.
• Expy: Is basically Doctor Doom if Doctor Doom was the head of Hydra.
• Faux Affably Evil: Seems a pleasant enough chap until you remember he has a body count ten times worse than Hitler's. To be fair, that was an accident. The body count he had planned was probably much worse.
• Gone Horribly Right: His plan to take over the world with the Bugs worked perfectly. It's just it wasn't ready yet so he wasn't immune anymore than anyone else.
• Hidden Villain: In Confessions, he never makes an appearance and never interacts with the other characters directly. Yet his influence is felt throughout, and he's almost The Dreaded.
• Karma Houdini: His plan to take over the world with the Bugs led to the deaths of 500,000,000 people. He has yet to see any punishment for this after three books.
• Living Lie Detector: His only superpower, but he's uses it very well.
• Mad Scientist: Has cloning, powered-armored, and mind-controlling bugs as just some of his tricks.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Had this relationship to Ultraweapon as well as General Devious.
• Powered Armour: Has the same kind as Patterson with Power Palms and Rocket Boots. It's noticeably less advanced than Patterson's, though, despite his best efforts.
• Take Over the World: Has this as his ultimate ambition compared to every other villains' more modest desires.
• Tin Tyrant: Is a power-armored Evil Overlord.

Minor Villains

Gunk

• Those Two Guys: With Rodentia.

The Merchant Of Death

• Killed Off for Real: Dies of a progressive degenerative disorder inherent to his cloning process.

Rodentia

• Those Two Guys: With Gunk.

Civilians

Vicky

• Affably Evil: It's easy to forget she's an Arms Dealer working for the equivalent of Hydra.
• Arms Dealer: One for the Evil Overlord.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Seems to serve this role for the Evil Overlord.
• Killed Off for Real: In Origins
• Posthumous Character: Was mentioned as having been killed in Confessions. She gets a lot more development in Origins.
• The Lost Lenore: To Calvin Stringle.